User:Mahagaja/Nibiru

Nibiru is on the one hand the name of a Sumerian and Babylonian god, and on the other hand name in Sumerian and Babylonian mythology of a celestial object, in conjunction with an astronomical constellation.

Interpretation as a deity
In the work of the Babylonian creation story of Enûma Eliš (As above [the sky was not yet named]), Nibiru is mentioned in the fifth tablet as one of the most important deities of Marduk: When Marduk fixed the locations (manzazu) of Nibiru, Enlil and Ea in the sky. In other Babylonian texts, the sky god Anu is mentioned instead of the Babylonian god Ea.

Interpretation as a celestial object
The references in Babylonian cuneiform tablets has led researchers to speculate whether the god Nibiru represents a celestial object or a particular constellation in the night sky. In the enumerations, Nibiru is mentioned at different astronomical locations in conjunction with the positions of stars and planets. The various stars or planets were not subject to any fixed interpretation. The "star of Ea", for example, was described at various "revelation spots" including Vela, Fomalhaut, and Venus. Similar interpretations were made for the other "stars of the gods", so certain celestial coordinates where the "stars of the gods" appeared must be considered.

Nibiru the post of heaven
Nibiru is described more closely on a complete cuneiform tablet: "Nibiru, which is said to have occupied the passageways of heaven and earth, because everyone above and below asks Nibiru if they cannot find the passage. Nibiru is Marduk's star which the gods in heaven caused to be visible. Nibiru stands as a post at the turning point. The others say of Nibiru the post: "The one who crosses the middle of the sea (Tiamat) without calm, may his name be Nibiru, for he takes up the center of it". The path of the stars of the sky should be kept unchanged."

- Description of Nibiru

Böhl calls the text "objectively the most difficult passage, although it has been handed down in its entirety. The Nibiru tablet does not provide any essential help for the clarification."

Nibiru identified as a planet or comet
The majority of historians assume that Nibiru is a moving celestial object. Speculation vary widely as to whether it should be equated with a planet or a comet. Jupiter, Canopus, Venus, the phenomenon of the trans-Neptunian object and Halley's Comet are all possible candidates for Nibiru.

In a text regarding the Babylonian Akitu festival, the deities honored in the ritual questioning on the fifth day of Nisannu are described: "The festivities of the fifth of Nisannu began four hours before dawn and with the same initial ceremonies of the fourth of Nisannu. Instead of the blessing formula of Pegasus, now the words were spoken: Dimmer-ankia as the decider of fates, Nunki as the speaker of wisdom, Asari (Marduk) as the giver of the cultural land, Jupiter as the signal-giver, Mercury as the rain-bringer, Saturn as truth and justice, Mars as the bringer of the wild fire, Sirius as the fathomer of the sea, Boötes as Lord of the Enlil, Nenegar arisen from itself, Numušda as the bringer of permanent rain, the Scorpion's Heart as the mover over the sea, Sun and Moon calm all lords. Is there another god besides my God? ...[waiting for an answer]...No? No one is like my God."

No conclusive proof for the various theories has been provided, even though the interpretations of the cuneiform inscriptions have been well justified.

The Nibiru point
Immanuel Benzinger, among others, has associated Nibiru with the astronomical term "culmination point", since he supported his theory with reference to research on the Hebrew festival of Passover. Drawing on passages from the Old Testament, Benzinger derives his view on determining the correct timing of the Passover festival from the formulation of the "careful travel of the moon through the pass (ma'bara)". Benzinger equates the "pass" with the "Nibiru point". and fixes it in the various calendar forms.

Elsewhere, the Nibiru point is used, for example, as the northern point of the Moon at the time of the winter solstice and as the beginning of the new year. The Nibiru point is the distinctive culmination point that is reached mainly by the Moon and shows the beginning of a new year in different cultures. In that regard, the Nibiru point does not describe an astronomically fixed position in the sky, but always depends on the requirements of the respective countries. In Ancient Egypt, the Nibiru point was in the summer as a point of comparison and was then subject to the laws of the Moon and Sirius.

Literature

 * Dietz-Otto Edzard: Ernst Weidner. In: Ber – Ezur und Nachträge. De Gruyter, Berlin 1978, ISBN 3-11-004450-1 (Reallexikon der Assyriologie und vorderasiatischen Archäologie, vol. 2; reprint of contributions 1933–1938).
 * Giorgio de Santillana, Hertha von Dechend: Hamlet's Mill. An Essay on Myth and the Frame of Time. Godine, Boston 1969, ISBN 978-0879232153.
 * Immanuel Benzinger: Hebräische Archäologie. Olms, Hildesheim 1974, ISBN 3-487-05165-6 (reprinted, Leipzig 1927).